Coming in February: “Finding Your Voice” will be the theme of the 2024 Ohio Conference Women in Leadership Retreat.  This retreat is planned for Feb.  2-3 at the Lial Renewal Center in Whitehouse, Ohio.

Presenter for the retreat will be Jewel Gingerich Longenecker, dean of  lifelong learning at Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary in Elkhart, Indiana. She will lead participants in exploring what it means to claim the fullness of their identity as leaders created in God’s image.

This retreat is for ALL women — pastors and other congregational leaders such as MYF sponsors, mentor coordinators, Sunday school teachers and superintendents, Christian education leaders, delegates, commission leaders, or those in other positions. It is also for women who want to explore possibilities for using their gifts in church leadership.

This overnight retreat will be a time for participants to learn, laugh, and fellowship with each other.

The registration deadline is Jan. 12. For more information, see the retreat brochure: https://bit.ly/2024WILRetreatBrochure. Register online at https://bit.ly/2024WomeninLeadership.

Retreat participants reflect

What is it like to participate in the Women in Leadership Retreat? Two participants from the retreat in 2022 reflect on their experiences:

“I did enjoy the retreat and the input from Rebecca Slough. Some of the activities pushed me out of my comfort zone a bit, but I enjoyed the interactions with other women from the Ohio Conference. One of the main messages for me was that I will not always get everything right and not everything will always go well, but that’s OK. There will always be support and love from the Holy Spirit and from others as I pursue where God is leading me.” — Bev Armstrong

“The 2022 Women in Leadership conference gave me the opportunity to find companionship, rest, and encouragement with women in Ohio Conference who understand what it means to be in all sorts of leadership roles in the church. We sang and ate together, took walks on the grounds and played games in the evening. What a gift to get away with other women and witness the many and unique gifts at work in the kingdom.” — Christiana Peterson